


Why Can’t I?

by Ultra



Series: Moments in Time [16]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Alec Hardison/Parker, Parker Being Parker (Leverage), Protective Eliot Spencer, Punching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-16
Updated: 2011-11-16
Packaged: 2020-02-28 15:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18758995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Parker has broken up with Hardison - Eliot wants to know why.





	Why Can’t I?

**Author's Note:**

> originally written for hollow_echoes on LiveJournal as part of Leverageland.

Eliot wasn’t really expecting to see anyone as he passed through the empty apartment and into the training room beyond. Still, Parker had a habit of being in the last place you expected to find her, so he wasn’t overly shocked when he saw her stood there in the corner near his punch bag.

“What are you doin’ in here?” he asked, somewhat aggravated since he kind of wanted to be alone. “Parker...?” he said as he walked over to her, wondering why she hadn’t turned around or answered him at all.

“I’m sorry.” She sniffed, clearly having been crying. “I messed up your bag,” she said, gesturing towards the punch-bag that had blood smeared down it.

Eliot frowned as he looked from the bag that was just barely still swinging, to Parker’s hand that she had used to point with.

“Geez, Parker, what the hell?” he growled as he grabbed her by the wrists and surveyed the damage across both sets of knuckles.

He was mildly surprised she didn’t react to him touching her in such a way, but then where he was concerned, Parker never had been quite so skittish. Of course, now wasn’t the time to worry about anything other than what was wrong here.

“Hardison and me... we broke up,” she said slowly, as if the words were unfamiliar to her, like she hadn’t spoken them herself at all.

Eliot couldn’t make sense of any of this. First off, he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why Hardison and Parker would be broken up, and connecting that to her injured hands and his bloodied exercise equipment was just impossible right now.

“Okay, job one, we need to fix you,” he said, leading her out of the room.

“That’s not gonna be easy,” she muttered to herself, though Eliot chose to ignore that particular comment right now.

Leading her through the apartment to the kitchen, he helped lift her up to sit on the counter, highly aware of the fact she wouldn’t want to use her hands for leverage. Fetching the first aid box, he struggled for what he was going to say to her about Hardison, and decided that it was maybe best not to ask directly. Yes, asking straight out for what she wanted to know was Parker’s way, but Eliot did have a little bit of tact.

“Y’know,” he began as he took out antiseptic and gauze, “you’re s’posed to bind up your hands before you go swinging at that bag,” he told her. “And I know you know that, ‘cause we trained before,” he reminded her, never meeting her eyes, just concentrating on cleaning up the gashes on her knuckles as best he could.

To her credit, Parker never flinched or cried. He barely noticed a change in her breathing at all as he fixed her up like he said he would. He was almost done before she spoke again.

“I just wanted to hit something,” she muttered. “Y’know, sometimes you just have everything building up inside and if you don’t get it out...”

“You’ll explode from it?” Eliot finished for her, as he completed patching up her hands and glanced up to meet her eyes.

“Yeah.” She nodded that was exactly what she meant, before looking down at her bandaged hands. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He nodded once as he tidied away the first aid kit. “I thought when you got all wanting to explode you leapt off things,” he said then.

“My harness isn’t here. The punch bag was closer.” She shrugged, blowing her bangs off her forehead as she watched him wash his hands then move over to flip on the coffee machine. “Eliot? Am I weird?” she asked straight out as she always asked everything.

He considered the question a moment as he reached for the top cupboard and brought out a box of Parker’s favourite cereal, handing it over to her without a moments pause.

“I don’t think anyone on this team is exactly normal,” he said as he leaned back against the opposite counter and looked at her. “Why’d you ask that?”

Parker cocked her head to one side thoughtfully, as if she wasn’t sure herself why she asked the question. Then just when Eliot was going to check she was still conscious, she spoke.

“I told Hardison I didn’t want to have sex with him.”

Eliot opened and closed his mouth three times, trying to form an answer to that. As if it hadn’t been bad enough last year, running from a Steranko, with Parker asking him what sexting was. Now here she sat telling him about her sex life with Hardison, or apparently a lack of same. He was about to tell her how inappropriate it was for her to talk to him about this when a thought hit him and his face hardened.

“Wait a second,” he forced out, trying not get mad until he had all the facts. “Did he dump you because... because you’re not ready?” he asked as carefully as he knew how, his hands gripping the counter so hard his knuckles were turning white, he was ready to get so angry.

“No.” Parker shook her head with a frown, her blonde ponytail swinging around her head. “I didn’t say I wasn’t ready,” she explained. “I said I didn’t want to. Ever,” she clarified, which eased some of Eliot’s anger but certainly upped his confusion.

“Darlin’, I think you lost me somewhere,” he admitted, relaxing momentarily before his brain recalled they were still talking about sex, “and honestly? Probably not the best person to talk to about this,” he said pointing to himself as he pushed off the counter and moved back to the coffee machine which was now hot.

“I just don’t get it.” Parker sighed heavily, pushing her hand further into the cereal box. “Why can’t I even imagine having sex with Hardison?”

Eliot so didn’t want to be having this talk with her, but she was obviously upset and confused about it, and he was the only one here so he didn’t feel he had much choice. He poured himself a coffee, kind of wishing it was something stronger, and mulled over what to say for the best. Before he ever got a chance to open his mouth, Parker spoke up again.

“I mean, I can imagine having sex with you,” she said straight out, though a little muffled around a mouthful of crunchy bites.

“What?” the word was out of Eliot’s mouth before he had a chance to think about it, and he turned around, mouth gaping wide open at what he thought he just heard.

Parker swallowed her mouthful and shrugged, apparently uncaring or perhaps not even noticing that she’d shocked the hitter at all.

“Sure, I’ve done that a lot,” she told him easily. “A lot,” she emphasised with her tone and sweep of her hand both. “Actually, sometimes when I made out with Hardison I was thinking about you,” she said as she thought on it some more, shoving another handful of cereal into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.

Eliot really wasn’t sure what to do with that news. He was a little flattered and his male ego was puffed up and grinning, no doubt, but this was also a very awkward moment. If he was understanding this right, Parker thought of him when making out with Hardison, and had no sexual desires for the hacker, only for Eliot himself. That was enough to boggle his mind to the point where he neither moved nor spoke for a full five minutes!

“Hmm.” The little sound from Parker caught Eliot’s attention and he glanced at her as she hopped down off the counter without too much trouble. “Maybe Sophie will know what to do, she’s good with this kinda thing,” she considered leaning in lightning quick to plant a kiss on Eliot’s cheek. “Thanks for helping,” she said and then just as suddenly was gone from the apartment and Eliot’s sight.

“You’re welcome,” he told the empty space before him, before shaking his head. “Shoulda gone to the gym instead.”


End file.
